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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngMeditationshttps://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com
A FIVE COURSE FEAST OF THANKSGIVING: HE GAVEhttps://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/a-five-course-feast-of-thanksgiving-he-gave/
https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/a-five-course-feast-of-thanksgiving-he-gave/#respondTue, 02 Dec 2014 18:21:29 +0000http://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/?p=21. FREEWILL: So that we are able to make the choice to be saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) and to live in objective truth each day throughout the year. As our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ submitted his will to his heavenly father we may, by his example, do the same. “Choose this day whom you will serve!” God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.” ( Joshua 24:15-16).

2. A SOUND MIND: Through the indwelling Holy Spirit given to us at salvation he has given us sobriety: “teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. (Tit. 2:12).

3. GOOD EMOTIONS: So that “out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water. “In the last day that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, ‘if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. (Jn. 7:37-38).

4. A CLEAR CONSCIENCE: Purged by the blood of Jesus Christ “by which we are instructed to “be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Heb. 9:14;Eph.5:18).

5. SELF CONSCIOUSNESS: and introspection has now become God consciousness by the conviction of the Holy spirit who causes us to bear fruit “to life eternal” (Jn. 4:36).

]]>https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/a-five-course-feast-of-thanksgiving-he-gave/feed/0grace20018731“BEHOLD THE BRAZEN SERPENT”https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/behold-the-brazen-serpent/
https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/behold-the-brazen-serpent/#respondMon, 14 Jul 2014 18:40:47 +0000http://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/?p=145 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten when he looks upon it shall live”(Num. 21:8).
Those of us that become addicted to opiate type drugs such as heroin, morphine, or dilaudid, to name a few, were also in most instances as addicted to the use of hypodermic needles; One could say we had been bitten by the silver serpent. However once we beheld the brazen serpent in our wanderings through the wilderness of drug addiction we were then in a sense inoculated. When we are “born again”, (Jn. 3:7), as we must be, we are delivered from addiction and all of its’ deadly trappings. We are in fact delivered from the “power of satan and sin”(Acts 26:18). When we were practicing our addiction we were bound by demonic forces! Every time we went to the table to partake of the unholy sacrament that was our drug of choice; be it an opiate, cocaine, alcohol, or any intoxicating substance or behaviors such as the viewing of pornographic material, or sexual promiscuity of any kind, we were victimized by satan’s wiles.
The apostle Paul when he was bitten by “the viper out of the heat” (Acts 28:3), and the word of God says, in VS. 5 “he shook off the beast and felt no harm.”
The brazen serpent in the wilderness is a type of the cross of Jesus Christ and when we come to that place of co-crucifixion (Gal.2:20 6:14; Rom. 6:6-11); we have great power over the devil, the flesh, and the old sin nature.
Once we receive the free gift of eternal salvation “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8), we are “delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord delivers us from every evil work and preserves us unto his heavenly kingdom.”
In our minds eye we must go to that place of death, the cross, the brazen serpent, on a daily basis;
behold the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world” (Jn l:29).
If we fail we must, “confess our sin and he will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.” (I Jn 1:9).
The Grace Overcomers book filled with testimonies and commentary on bibilical truth may be obtained on Amazon.com, through Tate Publishing, or directly through the author, Pastor Dan Lightsey by e-mail: danlightsey@hotmail.com, or graceovercomers.org.
]]>https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/behold-the-brazen-serpent/feed/0grace20018731THE GIFT OF GRACEhttps://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/the-gift-of-grace/
https://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/the-gift-of-grace/#respondTue, 24 Dec 2013 22:55:54 +0000http://graceovercomersblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/the-gift-of-graceIt is by grace through faith that we are saved and not of ourselves: it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).. All that is required of the sinful addict is to believe and receive the gift of eternal salvation. Lewis Sperry Chafer’s Systematic Theology Pg. 147, Vol. 7 says the following: “Since God is not fully discerned by the human senses it is easy for the natural man in a day of Grace to treat the person of God and all His claims as though they did not exist, or at best a mere harmless fiction. Then even faith is declared to be the gift of God.” Chafer goes on to say “Utter want of faith is the condition of unregenerate men (I Cor. 2:14). Until God is revealed to them by the Son through the spirit without going into a long drawn out dissertation in defense of the faith it is sufficient to say Jesus Christ came, God incarnate, born of a virgin to save sinners like you and me. What follows are excerpts from the Grace Overcomer’s book pgs 125-126 citing the first two of seven principles Acceptance and Belief, the first five of fifteen foundational bedrocks, sound faith building Biblical doctrines.

l. Acceptance of the condition: Creation revealed His:

GLORY

And we agreed that we had fallen short of it. Though we may have abstained from addictive substances and behaviors for a season, the struggle to maintain self-control left us empty. At oddswith our Creator and fellows, we sought Jesus Christ for…

Will you simply believe and receive the Gift at this Christmas? Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct you on the paths to your new life in Jesus Christ.

A vertical relationship with Jesus Christ is of the utmost importance when we are alone with our thoughts. Are we thinking in the new creation (II Cor. 5:17) or are we given over to satanic solicitations? Are we able to appropriate the objective truth of the Word of God? Have we hid His Word in our heart (Ps. 119:11)? In our times of quiet contemplation are we able to “cast down imaginations” (II Cor. 10:4-5)? In order for us to “stand in grace” (Rom. 5:2) we must have a daily intake of the Word of God. For we “do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matt.4;4)”. Jesus, when he was tempted of the devil answered with the Word of God. “It is written” carries great power and authority over the kingdom of darkness. Jesus Christ having emptied himself of his diety through the doctrine of kenosis, became a man (Phil 2:6-8) allowing himself to be tempted in all points like as we (Heb. 4:15) and overcame (Rev. 3:21). Because we are “in Christ” 86 times, it says in the book of Ephesians; we are commanded, “not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). “We are of God and we have overcome, the world, the flesh, and the devil! (I Jn. 4;4)”. That is why it is key, and paramount to know who we are in Jesus Christ; to hear the word often for “faith comes by hearing” (Rom 10:17), and to mix faith with what we hear (Heb. 4:2).

In addition to our regular Tuesday night meeting at Discipleship Hall at 6025 Moravia Park Drive, Baltimore, MD, we recently started a new Grace Overcomers meeting Saturday morning at The Lighthouse Counseling Center on the 2cnd floor at 611 N. Montford Ave. in Baltimore City. So far it has been fairly well attended and several have come out to Sunday church services as a result of coming to that meeting.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago at Calvary He “destroyed the works of the devil” (I John 3:8). That doesn’t mean he no longer exists, nor does it mean we no longer have an old sin nature that is subject to his wiles and schemes. We also have a free will that is a component of, and one of the five parts of a fallen soul. Satan goes about as a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” The Word of God doesn’t say that he is a roaring lion, but only that he goes about as one. Like Burt Lahr dressed as the lion in the Wizard of Oz, he only plays a part. Satan’s authority in the believer’s life is limited at best, and is only as effective as we allow it to be. He is like the pimp that panders to our fallen nature. That’s why it is so important for us to know and stand by faith in grace (Rom. 5:2). We must learn to gird up the loins of our mind so that we may know of his wiles (Eph. 6:11-18). When the five parts of a fallen soul are redeemed, that means bought back from the slave market of addiction, the conscience is purged by the blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10:22). Thus, the self-consciousness, that introspective component of the soul that is rooted in insecurity and fear is overcome by the “love that constrains us that if one died for all then all are dead”(ll Cor. 5:14). His love is perfected in us (I John 4:18). One that struggles with addiction problems will often say, “Yes, I know all of that, but I just don’t feel it.” Since we with addiction problems live in our feelings (fallen emotions) we tend to make sight evaluations based on feelings rather than faith (II Cor. 5:7). Faith overcomes the world system (cosmos diabolicus-I John 5:4). Splagnos (good emotions) joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and a redeemed soul. The battle goes on in the mind and when we study to quiet ourselves we will learn to think with the mind of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5). He submitted his will to the Father moment by moment in all areas (John 6:38-40). Therefore because we are in Christ and He dwells in us, when we submit our will to Him and resist the devil’s temptation (Jas. 4:7), God’s will is not fulfilled by us but in us. The devil is like a toothless old lion, all roar and no bite; all fake and no fang!

Around 4 a.m. each morning the old man of the house would get out of bed to pray. Proceeding down the hall to the dining room he would flip the switch lighting the tiny Christmas tree sitting on the ledge of the big bay window that faced the street. Their’s was one of many modest houses along the road. It just so happened that the tiny tree was the only recognition of Christmas on display and lit up at that hour of the morning. While there were a few much more elaborate decorations on the houses along the road, they remained unlit in the early morning hours.

The lady of the house being a much more frugal person would say, “Henry, why do you turn the electricity to that tree on at such an early hour?” Then she would add, “No-one sees it.” He would answer, “Wrong on all counts, my dear. God sees the little tree. He and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit see the the tree’s lights along with those early predawn risers that live in the tenement houses down at the far end of the road making their way to the bus stop and on to a day’s work at various jobs. But, most important,the few bums living in the hobo jungle next to the railroad track would certainly see the tree as they made their way to the bus stop in hopes of spunging a little change for a jug or a fix to begin their day.” “We’ll never know,” he’d say “who may be inspired by the lights on the tiny tree.”

After a bowl of porridge, the old man would return to his bed, his soul comforted by the prayer and his belly warmed by the porridge, he would slip back into slumber.

The lady of the house would turn off the lights on the little tree. Each morning she did this, the old man of the house would be awakened by a crying sound as that of a little child in distress. Getting out of bed, he would listen intently for the sound of the crying that seemed to come from the dining room where the tiny tree was. As soon as he turned the tree lights back on, the crying stopped. He shook his head and smiled. Had his imagination run away with him? Was he dreaming? Only God and His angels will ever know what effect the lights on a tiny Christmas tree will have on a few weary people at the beginning of an early morning. And only eternity will tell of the effect of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on so many souls.

Listen in Monday, September 26th to 93.3 FM WRFR at 11 a.m. to 12 noon to:THE ANCHOR HOLDS a Christian radio broadcast serving Rockland, Camden, and Midcoast Maine hosted by Pastor Peter Scheff where Pastor Dan Lightsey will be the featured guest. The program can be accessed on www.wrfr.org.

The Lightseys will also be guests on Tapping Into His Treasures, a TV show produced and hosted by BJ Peres, Christian author. This show currently airs on public television in Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The time schedule for the TV show will be posted at a later date, but a video will be available on YouTube during the last week of September.